 |
|
Electoral officials
prepare for a presidential election in Yola, Nigeria Saturday, March 28, 2015.
Nigerians turned out en masse to vote in a presidential election Saturday that
analysts say is too close to call. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
|
The Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that voting in the ongoing
presidential and parliamentary elections will continue tomorrow in areas where
accreditation and voting problems have been discovered.
In a statement released by Chris Iyimoga,
chairman of its information, voter education and publicity committee, INEC said
it was coming up with the plan to avoid disenfranchising eligible voters.
“INEC has been monitoring field reports on the
accreditation process since commencement this morning,” it said.
“Whereas the process has gone well in several
places, in some others it has encountered some challenges, especially the card
readers. Consequently, accreditation has been slow in many places and has
not commenced at all in some others.
“Even though the guidelines for the 2015
general elections provide that where card readers fail to work and cannot be
replaced, elections in such PUs will be postponed to the next day,
the scale of the challenge we have observed has necessitated a
reconsideration of the provision of the guidelines.
“The commission has therefore decided that in
PUs where card readers fail to work, the Presiding Officer shall manually
accredit voters.
“The Presiding Officer shall mark the voters
register upon being satisfied that the person presenting a PVC is the
owner. Notwithstanding, in PUs where accreditation was suspended to the
next day in accordance with the guidelines, arrangements will be made for
voters to vote tomorrow, subject to the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010.”
The commission reassured the public that it
would “thoroughly investigate what happened while it stays committed to
credible elections”.
No comments:
Post a Comment